Despite the tremendous progress women have made, men still outnumber us as entrepreneurs, leaders and politicians. While there are uncontrollable factors such as family commitments, resources, time and budget constraints, there are factors we as women can control.

Habits are hard to break. There is something safe about an automatic action that takes little brainpower to initiate. Habits are predictable. They are comfortable. But, in the end, they don't move you forward.

When I wrote my first guest column for Lift IOWA back in February, I was in the clouds, filled with excitement and adrenaline over taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. Now I'm six months into my first year, and things have changed -- but in many good and challenging ways.